Category: Women of Color and Accomplishment: Fighting for Equality

 Painting inspired by photo in Chester Higgins Archive. From the late 1940s through the early 1960s, Constance Motley played a pivotal role in the fight to end racial segregation. She was the first African American woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court, and the first to serve as a federal judge. As a… Continue reading Constance Motley

Phillis Wheatley, was the first African-American writer to publish a book in the United States. She was born in Senegal and arrived in the United States in 1761. Wheatley was named after the ship that brought her (Phillis) and the merchant who bought her (Wheatley). Within 15 months she had mastered English. By 1765, she… Continue reading Phillis Wheatley

The daughter of former slaves, Mary Terrell became active in Civil Rights in 1892 when an old friend was lynched. At the age of 86, in 1950 she challenged segregation in public places. Terrell’s life work focused on the notion of racial uplift, the belief that blacks would help end racial discrimination through education, work,… Continue reading Mary Church Terrell

Fannie Franklin Wall 1860-1944 Fannie Wall was a clubwoman, civic leader, community activist, and children’s home founder. A prominent community activist, she took part in several organizations promoting African American economic empowerment and antiracism. Wall was active in the National Association of Colored Women whose motto was ‘Lifting As We Climb’ Wall was ‘the motivating spirit’ behind… Continue reading Fannie Wall

Mamie Till-Mobley 1921-2003 Mamie Till-Mobley was the mother of Emmett Till, who was tortured and lynched while visiting Mississippi in 1955. Only 14, he was wrongly accused of whistling at a white woman. Mamie Till insisted on an open casket at his funeral as “I wanted the world to see what they did to my boy.” After her… Continue reading Mamie Till- Mobley

Lydia Flood Jackson 1862 –1963 Lydia Flood Jackson fought for African American civil rights and was a champion of women’s rights. She was an active clubwoman and first legislative chair of the California State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs.   As a political activist, she traveled to Mexico, South America and the West Indies for lectures. Jackson… Continue reading Lydia Flood Jackson

Eunice Kathleen Waymon better known as Nina Simone. Singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil rights activist. Nina Simone 1933-2003 Trained as a classical pianist, Simone’s musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach. In one of her first jobs, playing at a jazz club, she was told she had… Continue reading Nina Simone

Maria P. Williams 1866-1932 Maria Priscilla Thurston Williams is credited as the first Black woman film producer for the silent crime drama The Flames of Wrath in 1923.

1954 – At age six, Ruby Bridges advanced the cause of civil rights in November 1960 when she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South (New Orleans). A lifelong activist for racial equality, in 1999, Ruby established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education. In… Continue reading Ruby Bridges

Coretta Scott King 1927 – 2006 Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. She met her husband while attending graduate school in Boston. They were both active in the American civil rights movement and Coretta King was active in the Women’s Movement. Two months after her husband’s assassination in 1968 she founded… Continue reading Coretta King